Three Liverpool forwards miss training on Thursday and it’s unclear why, according to reports. The Reds may need to rotate vs Brighton.
Three forwards didn’t train on Thursday ahead of Liverpool vs Brighton. The Reds return to action at Anfield this Saturday but there’s now a question of who’s available.
As per the Liverpool Echo, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz were all absent in Kirkby. The three of them were all with international teams over the break – but so were several stars who took to the pitch on Thursday.
The most apparent absentee is Diaz, who was in the Americas. Perhaps Liverpool gave him an extra day of rest as a result after starring for Colombia.
Nunez, however, was in Slovakia with Uruguay as he scored against Canada this week. Jota played in Portugal for his national side in a 1-0 defeat to Spain.
Liverpool forwards miss training
Jota did leave the pitch early for Portugal, it should be said. Fernando Santos admitted afterwards that the Liverpool forward had requested it – he felt overly tired and needed to go off.
And so perhaps Jota was afforded some extra rest as a result. That certainly makes sense but it’s not an ideal situation for Liverpool. We predicted that he’d start against Brighton, with Diaz making his way back from America.
Perhaps Jota’s not quite up to speed, however. Liverpool may need to go a little easy on him, potentially waiting for the midweek clash with Rangers so he can have a week’s rest.
We still don’t think Diaz will start and Nunez’s absence isn’t an easy one to explain. Maybe neither are ready to face Brighton? That would be a massive blow and we imagine Fabio Carvalho might need to step into the forward line. That or Jurgen Klopp changes his formation with only Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah fit to start.
Today’s training session should tell us much.
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